11/12/2012

Veterans, Active Duty Service-members and Families: Show and Tell Us Your Favorite Place Outdoors

In honor of
Veterans Day and the veterans and active duty service members who serve this
country, Sierra Club Mission Outdoors has a special announcement: we
are partnering with the Bureau of Land Management for our first Veterans Day Essay and
Photo Contest. This contest, centered on the theme
“What My Public Lands Mean to Me,” encourages veterans, active-duty military,
and their families to submit photos, essays and video about their experiences
and memories of time spent outside on America’s public lands.

The BLM and
Sierra Club will accept entries through Thursday, December 6 at http://mypubliclands.challenge.gov.
Beginning December 7 (Pearl Harbor Day) and through December 14, members
of the public will be able to vote for their favorite entries through the same
website. The three most popular entries
will be featured on the BLM and Sierra Club websites and social media
platforms, and receive an outdoor support kit from the Sierra Club.

We’re
kicking off this contest by including a blog post by John Turner about a recent
trip to Glacier National Park on 9/11. We hope that you find his story as
inspirational as we do.

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Being a good steward of our
resources is not a partisan issue, it
is an obligation

By John
Turner

I have been
following the efforts of the Sierra Club’s Mission Outdoors for the last few
years, particularly those related to the Military Families and Veterans
Initiative. As a veteran of several combat tours I really respect what the Club
is doing with vets and their families—but it wasn’t until this trip that I
realized I was one of the vets that
needed to get back outside. I am and will remain forever grateful to Mission
Outdoors for arranging this once in a lifetime trip and for getting to be a
part of it.

The
principle purpose of the trip was to get military veterans, together with a
team of seasoned climbers, out to Glacier National Park in order to witness how
the glacial landscape is changing and what effects glacial recession and
climate change might have in our lifetimes. I didn’t really have a very firm
opinion about climate change, whether it is or isn’t happening, or who or what
is primarily to blame for it, before embarking on this adventure. Now, having
camped at the foot of Blackfoot and Jackson glaciers and having climbed
Blackfoot glacier and summited the mountain that towers above it, I have gained
some perspective, above and beyond the importance of keeping the ice axe in
your uphill hand.

We can’t
know for sure what the end of this story will ultimately be, which scientists’
predictions and data sets will prevail; we only know what has already happened.
Glacial retreat is tangible and quantitative, a measurement that can be
recorded without knowledge of its cause. If current trends continue, the
glaciers of Glacier National Park will be gone in my lifetime. How and why is climate
change such a partisan issue when one’s ability and desire to enjoy the outdoors
is decidedly non-partisan? I can’t help but wonder how many of the politicians
on either side of the debate have actually had a chance to stand (or camp) at
the base of a glacier and really contemplate the significance of its
disappearance. With the glaciers go the landscape, and with the changing
landscape goes the biodiversity—and, perhaps most importantly, with the
glaciers go critical sources of fresh water.

The saying ‘to whom much is given, much is expected’ came to mind
when I sat down to write about my experience with Mission Outdoors. Being a
good steward of our resources is not
a partisan issue, it is an obligation. Over the years, I have been thanked for
my service to our nation; on this trip, in the solitude of the wilderness and
the company of fellow veterans and civilians from various walks of life, my service
took on a different meaning. I serve out of a sense of duty and because I love
my country and the way of life I am so fortunate to lead—and this includes the
freedom to get outside and enjoy nature.
This trip wasn’t about how to fix climate change or even to reverse it –
it was all about discovery. As a part of
that discovery, I am committed to telling others what I saw. It is easy to disregard, dispute, and ignore
climate change from a desk in a building, but not so easy after witnessing the
changes firsthand. I am grateful to the Sierra Club for providing me the
opportunity to reconnect with the outdoors in such an amazing place.

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